Matthew Stafford, the Detroit Lions quarterback, works on his mechanics daily.

“I mean it’s something like I said earlier this offseason, I work on every time I go out on the field, practice field, game. I critique myself, I’m my own worst critic,’’ Stafford said. He paused, thought about what he had just said, then laughed and said maybe that is not the case.

Advertisement

He was referring to Ron Jaworski, ESPN analyst and former NFL quarterback, who has blasted Stafford’s mechanics routinely.

“I understand those guys, they have a job to do,’’ Stafford said. “They have to talk. In the offseason there’s not a lot to talk about. I understand that. Don’t get me wrong, I take a close look at my game at all times and try to make sure I’m playing my best.’’

He feels comfortable with his game and with the offense heading into the regular season, his fifth as the Lions’ starter.

The last people who are concerned about the Detroit Lions’ first-team offensive woes in the preseason, are the very people who were on the field.

“I’ve been playing 11 years and I know the preseason doesn’t indicate what you do during the year,’’ wide receiver Nate Burleson said. “So you can call it struggles or you can call it getting through the preseason. What we have getting put in this week leading up to this first game is going to be a lot different than what everybody saw. So I think there’s a certain level of comfort in our minds for preseason compared to going into the season.’’

That was the consensus on Tuesday following the Lions first practice preparing for the Minnesota Vikings, their opening regular season opponent on Sunday at Ford Field.

The Lions finished the preseason 3-1 but it was the second and third teams responsible for most of the scoring.

Everyone on offense was healthy which hasn’t been the case during training camp. That includes Calvin Johnson who missed the final three preseason games and much of camp with a bruised knee.

With him out, other offensive players had to step into roles which they won’t play in the regular season.If the offense looked out of sync at times, that is the reason.

“It was a different dynamic,’’ Stafford said. “We really only had all the parts to our offense for one maybe two series in the first game. For me it was getting us in the right place, moving along making sure our offensive line is doing the right thing which they were doing a great job. (And) just trying out some of the new stuff we’ve been working on in training camp.’’

Stafford’s preseason numbers were anemic (27 of 55, 310 yards, one touchdown, one interception) but that’s old news now.

“We have all the confidence in the world in Matt,’’ coach Jim Schwartz said. “Matt played a lot of games last year and Calvin set an all-time NFL record. Calvin missed quite a bit of practice last year. Matt has good command over what we’re going to do. All those pieces will fit together very well.”

The team’s offensive excitement is palpable.

It’s like they have a big secret they can’t wait to share with the fans.

“We’re ready for many reasons, there’s so many things we’ve done in the offseason in training camp that we haven’t shown so I think we’ve been trying to stay hushed as long as we can,’’ Burleson said. “We did some good things and we showed a little during the preseason but now is the time for us to kind of unveil ourselves and open this thing up completely which is exciting with C.J. being back in the fold and everybody being in their home positions.’’

Burleson said with everyone in their home positions expect a fast tempo.

“I’m knocking on wood (and he did), we’re extremely healthy right now, guys will be flying around, we’ll be playing at a different speed than you’ve seen the last four weeks which is kind of why you’re seeing guys walk around with smiles on their faces,’’ Burleson said.